Masters Series, Masters Cup Streamed On Web

[Fedexeon]

ATP Masters Series and Tennis Masters Cup Action to be Streamed Live on Web

The ATP Masters Series, the premier tournaments in men’s tennis, and the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai, the prestigious circuit finale, are set to introduce streaming of live action via its online media service atpmastersseries.tv. The site is available directly or via ATPtennis.com.

Subscribers in select markets will be able to watch a fully continuous program featuring the best live action from the televised courts with English language commentary direct on their desktops. The service will be introduced at the summer’s upcoming two ATP Masters Series tournaments, the Rogers Masters in Toronto, beginning next week from August 7, and the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati the following week. Action from the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai, where the rivalry between ATP World No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal is set to play out from November 12-19, also will be streamed.

Various pricing options will be offered – from daily access at $7.95 to weekly tournament passes at $12.95 and year-round ‘season ticket’ subscriptions for only $69.95 – to appeal to the sport’s broad and diverse demographic. The service will be available in the United States, Pan Asia, Germany and Austria – key markets for growing the sport, and also markets where existing broadcast agreements do not restrict the streaming of live action.

“The site atpmastersseries.tv has proven to be extremely popular with tennis fans since it was launched earlier this year, but the introduction of live action will create a truly world class product and expand the appeal and availability of tennis like never before,” said Mark Webster, CEO of Tennis Properties Ltd. (TPL).

“We will be using the latest geo-blocking technology to clearly define the territories where the content is available, protecting our traditional broadcast partners while allowing tennis fans to follow live tennis that they have previously been unable to access.”

Additionally, as part of the ATP’s “Doubles Revolution” initiative to promote the game of doubles, the doubles finals in Toronto and Cincinnati will be streamed live for all users globally and at no cost. atpmastersseries.tv also will broadcast all of the doubles competition from the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai for free and worldwide.

Etienne de Villiers, ATP Executive Chairman and President, said: “We are working very hard to not only satisfy tennis’ far-reaching fans but also to broaden its appeal and access. The US Open Series is a great platform for tennis, so it’s an ideal time to launch this new service, particularly given the excitement currently being generated by ATP players and tournaments. We’re also pleased atpmastersseries.tv will showcase the ATP Doubles Revolution which has been such a great story all season long.”

Following the summer broadcasts, the online coverage will continue at the two final ATP Masters Series tournaments of the year in Madrid and Paris. The Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid will be held October 16-22 while the BNP Paribas Masters takes place October 30-November 5. The Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai, featuring the top eight singles players and doubles teams, will be held November 12-19.

The site atpmasterseries.tv is operated by Tennis Properties Ltd, the commercial and broadcast arm of the ATP Masters Series and the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai, in association with Premium TV, specialists in the hosting and exploitation of on-line media rights and content.
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Great to see this. ATP learnt alot from Wimbledon this year. Now they followed suit and have their own live streaming service for Masters Series and Masters Cup. Those who have tv coverage problem can subscribe this and get great tennis actions!

[quest01]

I subscribed to masters-series tv early in the year. It’s pretty good, it also shows some classic matches including Sampras.

[Fedexeon]

It gets even better now. Whole match live streaming... You don't need a TV to watch tennis matches now..

[arosen]

Yeah, this is awesome, phuck TV.

[lorenza]

i'd never heard of it before but thats pretty awesome

[Phillip=Tennis guy]

cool..................

[Fedexeon]

Who will be subscribing this service? Looks like a great deal huh..
Especially when Espn doesn't cover most of the Europe Masters Series tournaments.

[ken1d]

I just bought the 19 dollar 3 MS live coverage service deal today. Because i was really impressed by the service the wimbledon site gave me. But for some reason im not getting a quality streaming video from the masterseries site. The stream gets stock every few second. its like im viewing slide show of a photo album instad of a movie. anyway if this situation doesnt improve by tomorrow im gonna have to call the service or site rap.

Is there anybody else having the same problem? o by the way i have a DSL broad band connection so i don't see why im having 56 K experince in this perticulater site.

[Rataplan]

United States, Pan Asia, Germany and Austria

Why only a limited zone in Europe?

[jhm36]

Yeah, Ken, I'm having the same problem, having bought it today as well. Also can't get anyone to answer my customer service questions. Feedback form on the webpage didn't work for me and the message couldn't get sent so I had to use the customer support email address. Sent two messages, no reply. If you figure out how to get someone to talk to, please let me know because the thing is unwatchable as is.

[FalconX]

I don't have that problem at all. The quality is great. I think the problem may be on your end. Check to see if your downstream is good enough. If all fails I suggest downloading "net-transport." You can get a trial version at their website(search google) and then under the "URL sniffer" tab hit start. Go to the tennismasters website, strart your stream. Go back to nettransport and it should have located the URL for the stream. Highlight it and download and put it in the appropriate folder. I wasn't able to watch the streams at work during certain hours. That was how I was able to get around the problem.

[jhm36]

Thanks for the tips.

The problem certainly isn't my streaming rate on my connection. Never had a problem streaming before. This is the only site I've had trouble with the stream.

I'll give the net stream a shot but really I'm more interested in cancelling my subscription. Can't get anyone to respond to my requests for help from the page, faq doesn't help me, feedback form doesn't ven work, and my request to cancel my service yesterday still hasn't gone through. Zero customer support in other words. Not good.

But, looks like it could have been a good service. Wimbledon was great. Glad to here it's working for other folks. Good luck to everyone else. I highly suggest a short term trial basis to test if it works for you.

[rhubarb]

Originally Posted by Rataplan

Why only a limited zone in Europe?

Because in the other countries they've already sold it to TV providers. We won't get it in the UK because Sky have the rights for the Masters (and I'm not shelling out $80 USD a month just for that!).

[thn]

I subscribed on atpmasterseries.tv aswell and Im experiencing the same problems. In my eyes it´s a traffic issue, only at certain times I can watch the stream fluently, like in the early morning (CET zone). And that fact holds me back from subcribing for that live broadcasting thing now. I think they need to upgrade their servers or bandwith ...

[jhm36]

Interesting. Just got on and the live stream is working fine. Stream from the archive still unwatchable. Could it be they are trying to save bandwidth for the live stream and have powered-down the stream from their archive?

Still no word from help. Even though I tried to cancel my service yesterday I'm still able to use the site. Funny. Once you're in, you're in and there's no turning back.